Abstract

To the editor: In their paper, Wheat and associates (1) state: "Even in chronic pulmonary histoplasmosis, culture of up to six sputum specimens yields positive results in fewer than 50% of cases." The authors cite a paper by Furcolow and associates published in 1962 (2). In reviewing this other paper, I assumed they used "Table 7. Yield of Positive Histoplasma Cultures Among Persons with Positive Histoplasmosis Serology—One Culture or More Done per Patient," consisting of data from the Missouri State Sanatorium (now Missouri State Chest Hospital). I did not find mentioned that up to six sputum specimens from one or